After placing 10th at the National Junior College Athletic Association National Tennis Tournament last spring, the Saints menís tennis team has once again been ranked among the best junior college tennis programs in the nation. The Saints are ranked No. 8 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association pre-season poll that was released last week. In 2007, the Saints made their second ever appearance at the national tournament with all six players returning to the program for the 2007-2008 season. The pre-season poll also ranked four Saintsí singles players in the Top 75 players in the nation.

Laredo Junior College, the back-to-back national champion, received the pre-season No. 1 ranking, followed by back-to-back national runner-up Tyler Junior College. Johnson County Community College is the highest ranked Region VI program at No. 3, followed by No. 4 Collin County C.C., No. 5 Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, No. 6 Cowley College and No. 7 Seminole State College. This seasonís poll marks the 10th straight season that head coach Darin Workman has led the Saints to a Top 25 ITA team national ranking.

Saints sophomore, and projected No. 1 singles player, Mirko Perkusich received a No. 31 singles national ranking after finishing in the Round of 8 last season at the national tournament. Perkusich posted an 8-4 singles mark in 2007 with a third-place finish at the regional tournament. This fall he recorded an 8-4 mark in singles play.

Seward County sophomore Victor Mesquita received a No. 53 national ranking after recording a 7-5 mark this fall. Mesquita also finished in the Round of 8 at nationals and finished in third-place at the regional tournament.

Sophomores Luis Cabizuca and Rogerio Yamamoto each received singles rankings at No. 63 and No. 65, respectively. Cabizuca won the consolation bracket championship last season at the NJCAA Tournament in No. 4 singles. This past fall Cabizuca tied for the team lead with nine victories (9-1 overall).

Yamamoto is coming off a 10-3 season in 2007, where he was runner-up in the consolation bracket championship in No. 5 singles at the national tournament. He finished the fall season with a 6-4 record in singles competition.

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